[fpc-devel] Unicode and UTF8String

[Michael Schnell]

> And yes, if you lazy, you lose performance due to automatic conversions. It
> has always been that way (also when mixing short and ansistring)
>   
Of course you are very right here !

If you are lazy and write your code like you are used to, you will not 
get optimum performance with a new compiler that now allows for Unicode. 
But the code still needs to be working as expected (as with a compiler 
version that does not allow for Unicode, but simply uses ANSI or 
whatever OS and locale depending 8-Bit code).

In most programs that will not be a problem at all as doing extensive 
string calculations in user-code is not necessary.

Of course, if you want to take real advantage of Unicode (using 
characters outside your current locale) or if you want to optimize (for 
speed or for memory size) you need to be aware of the Unicode stuff and 
write your code appropriately.

-Michael